“I’ll be missing you every time, and I will pray for you every night…”

I listened to my favourite song on my iPod. I was feeling incredulously calm. Attending one of the elite High Schools in Korea was undoubtedly stressful. The teachers swamp us with homework and tests. I felt lost and goalless, void of aspiration as well as inspiration. Every day I turned up in school to listen to lectures, to do tests which test us on the next topic instead of the one we just learnt, and to be assigned more projects. Study, study, study. Our lives revolved around studying. Why were students made to work so hard?

One morning, we all heard a rumour – Eunhyuk, the badboy rapper dancer from idol boyband Super Junior was going to transfer to our school. Everyone was hyped up for his arrival and the once silent hallways were buzzing with excitement. Even though the news hadn’t even been confirmed yet, countless of faithful, or rather maniacal ELFs had already started calling their friends from other schools to spread the news. I wasn’t a fan of Super Junior, so I didn’t bother much. I didn’t see what just was so good about Eunhyuk. He is a human being, so am I. Everyone is a human being. He just had a different occupation.

The next day, the rumours were proven, to the delight of the ardent ELFs. For the first time, Eunhyuk stepped into our school, donning the school uniform. He looked different from the other guys wearing the same uniform. He was so… charming? The fangirls squealed upon seeing him, leaping out of their seats like apes. They made a beeline for the idol, who was eyeing the impeding fangirl stampede suspiciously, and swarmed up to ask for his autograph. Fortunately, he had bodyguards with him, or he would have been squashed flat by the fangirls.

He seemed to be clutching a slip of scraggly paper in his hand. He looked at it, and then looked up, like he was looking for something. He stopped at a door. That was the door to my classroom. Then he walked in and took a seat. The fangirls in my class were so happy that they screamed their throats sore. “EUNHYUK IS IN OUR CLASS!!! OUR CLASS!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” They shrieked hysterically, sounding like hoarse ogres.

Lessons began. Surprisingly, no one dared to sit near Eunhyuk because they were much too shy. I sat 3 seats diagonally behind him, and I couldn’t pry my eyes off him. I tried paying attention to my teacher, but he seemed to have some mystical magnetic force that kept my eyes glued to his back. He was extremely quiet; he didn’t talk at all, except for the time when the teacher asked him to introduce himself. He looked so lonely… Well, I guess that was just the way idols have to live.

During break, he ate alone. Occasionally, he flashed a smile at jumping fangirls who were constantly rushing up to him saying, “Eunhyuk oppa, hwaiting!” which left them boasting around: “Eunhyuk oppa smiled at me!” “Eunhyuk oppa noticed me!” “Eunhyuk oppa likes me!”

Talk about desperation.

After school, I went into the changing room to change into my sports attire. When I came out, I saw Eunhyuk emerging from the male changing room. He was deep in his thoughts so he probably didn’t notice me. He bumped into me. Both our handphones dropped onto the floor. “Oh, sorry!” he exclaimed. “Nevermind, it’s okay.” I responded with a smile. We both picked up our handphones and walked away.